My name is Carlyn Johnston, my waterbody is the Thames River.

I am a First Nations woman from Chippewa the Thames First Nation. The Thames River is also known as Antler River, Deshkan Ziibi. I’ve been part of a First Nations youth stewardship program working to help improve the water quality of the Thames River and learned a lot of different things not only about environmental science but also First Nations culture and traditional ecological knowledge. I grew up canoeing on the Thames River so it was a different perspective that I got from this program. I’ve just really appreciated the program and learning about the Thames River that I’m from.

Growing up there was this training aspect that I was concerned about, it wasn’t really focused on improving the quality of the river, I figured that it would always be there and always be healthy and be there for me to canoe and kayak on all the time. Starting this First Nations youth stewardship the Antler River Guardians From The 4 Directions, I’ve learned so many different things and that we need to start really concentrating on improving the river and the health of the river for the next generations.